Plixer International (News - Alert), a provider of network traffic monitorring and analysis tools to the global market, announced that METRO, a regional transportation organization, deployed Scrutinizer Netflow and sFlow Analyzer to reduce network downtime and make troubleshooting easier and efficient.

For METRO, a business always on the move serving 15 cities in the Houston metro area with nine operating facilities, 27 Park & Ride locations, and the METRO headquarters, monitoring the network and resolving issues has been always challenging.

When network downtimes started bogging down METRO’s network and cutting into productivity, METRO went in search of a tool that would help in recognizing and preventing the issues that caused the network sluggishness, the company said.

The company did not have any product to monitor and record Netflow information, says Neal Gravatt, Network Support specialist for Houston’s METRO. “Just having some tool to figure out if sluggish response was the result of the network or of a slow server response and monitor how users are using the network would be a huge improvement and a great way to cut network downtime.”

The company needed a Netflow analysis solution that was powerful, scalable to their widespread network, and also the right price to fit into the public sector budget. The company found Scrutinizer as the easiest product to manipulate the company could have put in place and save nearly $100,000, according to Gravatt.

Scrutinizer, according to Gravatt, has the ability to look deeper into what is happening in terms of Internet usage, which helped them increase network security. As a forensic tool, Scrutinizer allows METRO network staff to gain better insights into what a host is doing, helping to prevent network problems.

Prior to implementing Plixer’s Netflow analysis tool, METRO’s network administrators utilized at least an hour just looking at individual ports and logs stored on the firewall to locate where a potential problem was coming from.

Scrutinizer software now saves hours of troubleshooting on common network problems, Gravatt added. “Plixer and Scrutinizer really enhance my ability to work at my maximum potential.”

Plixer International’s Netflow analysis solutions are also used to manage both large and small networks in a variety of sectors, including the retail, education, healthcare, and financial markets.

In July, Ritz Camera implemented Scrutinizer Netflow and sFlow Analyzer from Plixer to gain network insights the company needed for prioritizing traffic, according to a press announcement.